A_Schleck wrote:
Well I've forgotten all about keeping up with Guido a long time ago, but I should have the next stage ready sometime today.
Keep your own speed..I just love to read your long text
hear, hear!
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
May 26:Giro d’Italia - Stage 14 | Cantù > Bergamo - 181 km
Stage Profile
Another beautiful day here in Italy is looming up the road. I’m really enjoying myself here as this is truly a dream come true for me to manage a team like this in a stage race like this. And with 14 days almost in the bag we can be nothing but extremely pleased about our performance so far. Andy is shocking the cycling world as he is currenlt heading for a podium spot and he has gotten stronger for each day. Besides that he has also managed a beautiful victory, doubling our tally as we took the first stage on Sardinia. I know guys like Kurt-Asle and Christian really want to pull off a stage win sooner or later here, as they’re in peak conditions. The could try something today perhaps.
None of those got in the TV break however, but Nicki did manage to get underway with seven other riders. These were Moletta, who has shown himself on numerous occasions now, Van den Broeck, Tomei, McLeod (him too), Velo, Labbe (and this guy) and Facci.
Nicki has had a stormer so far this season having won Tour of California, but who wouldn’t like a Giro Stage win, in addition to that?
They weren’t allowed to go very far however as Liquigas worked hard for their captain and maglia rosa Danilo Di Luca, who just held off Cunego in the GC by a very slim lead of just 2 seconds, with Andy in third just over a minute down.
But you can’t win if you have a team like Liquigas trying to close you down, so Nicki will have to wait some more for that stage win.
After passing the terrifying Passo San Marco climb, the breakaway riders were reeled in as the pack hit the last but final climb. I say last but final as there’s actually a small lump a few kilometres from the finish line that you can’t really see in the stage profile above. But right here on this climb before this infamous “little lump”, the favourites decided that they wanted to fight out yet again, meaning more hard work for Andy. But he’s in great shape and he didn’t have much trouble catching up with Simoni, who’d launched an attack on Andy’s podium spot here. These two riders lead up the entire climb ahead of both Cunego and Di Luca. But at the top Cunego had made his way to them, meaning he was the virtual leader as Di Luca trailed this trio by 25 seconds.
Andy wore la maglia verde today as he is the combined leader of this competition. Di Luca however was losing his only jersey.
After Di Luca, David Arroyo and Nocentini had formed a duo, but they weren’t going to catch anyone and all the way it was yet again between the top four in the GC.
On the small lump just 5 km from the finish, Di Luca was trailing by 40 seconds and Andy was excitingly close to move to 2nd in the GC. He was so excited that he decided to attack Simoni and Di Luca on the small hill. They didn’t counter and he opened a gap, which he held all the way to the home stretch. But here he was unfortuneately all used up and Cunego and Simoni caught, as Cunego could take another simple win, outsprinting Simoni and Andy with ease to bag his 4th stage win of the Giro!
Cunego showed some experience contrary to Andy, who lost his head a bit today and had to pay the prize.
Di Luca came amazingly fast on the final kilometres, meaning he finished in the same time as the three others in 4th. He would still lose his jersey as Cunego had picked up 20 additional seconds on the line, meaning he’d now lead the Giro once again, by 18 seconds. Andy retained his 3rd place, but again today Simoni gained a few seconds on him as he beat him to the line for additional seconds. Tomorrow we’re facing the last but final mountain top finish at Tre Cime Di Lavaredo, where we could see one of the favourites pulling a decisive move on his opponents. After that we have a well-earned rest day after racing for 12 succesive days.
Giro d’Italia - Stage 14 | Result
1 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL 5h02'40
2 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t. 3 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
4 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE + 2'02
6 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
7 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER + 3'01
8 Jose Rujano UNIBET.COM s.t.
9 Cristian Moreni COFIDIS + 3'43
10 Igor Anton H. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
11 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'16
12 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
14 Ruggero Marzoli TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
15 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
16 Thomas Voeckler BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
17 Matteo Carrara UNIBET.COM s.t.
18 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
19 Pierrick Fédrigo BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
20 Giuliano Figueras LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t. 22 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
23 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC s.t.
38 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
41 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
50 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC s.t.
123 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 12'35
124 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 13'47
Giro d’Italia - Stage 14 | GC
1 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL 57h53'07
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 18 3 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC + 1'17
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'18
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE + 11'19
6 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 16'00
7 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 17'08
8 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 17'18
9 José G. Marchante SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 17'26
10 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 18'40 18 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 21'49
32 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC + 28'25
52 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 37'52
55 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 38'49
58 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 41'54
90 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 1h13'22
116 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 1h41'28
Giro d’Italia – Stage 14 | Points Competition
1 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL 192
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 165 3 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC 106
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 104
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE 91
6 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS 85
7 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM 85
8 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 75
9 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL 61
10 Francisco Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 57
Giro d’Italia – Stage 14 | King of the Mountains
1 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 41
2 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC 41
3 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL 39
4 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER 31
5 Dario Cioni PREDICTOR - LOTTO 30 6 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC 25
7 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 24
8 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 24 9 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC 24
10 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 21
Cunego is totally dominating the Giro as he’s leading the GC and the Points Competition after claiming his fourth win in the Giro on today’s stage.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
This race is winding down as the Giro hits its final push to the finish line in Milano. We don’t have any chances in the GC here however, as we’re just looking to finish in Catalunya and move on.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya – Stage 6 Result | Llívia > Lloret de Mar – 177 km
1 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM 3h44'43
2 André Greipel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
3 Claudio Corioni LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
4 Oscar Gatto GEROLSTEINER s.t.
5 Francesco Chicchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
6 Laurent Brochard BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
7 Alexandre Pichot BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
8 Gregory Henderson T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Sébastien Chavanel FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
10 Martin Elmiger AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t. 12 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
46 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC s.t.
61 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC s.t.
76 Lars Ytting Bak TEAM CSC s.t.
83 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
95 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
133 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC s.t.
175 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC s.t.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya – Stage 6 | GC
1 Juan José Cobo Acebo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 18h45'23
2 Oscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 25
3 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 28
4 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA + 1'17
5 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'35
6 Juan Manuel Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'55
7 Andreas Klöden ASTANA + 2'39
8 David López García CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'53
9 Julián Sánchez Pimienta RELAX - GAM + 3'17
10 José Luis Rubiera DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'31 16 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 6'36
46 Lars Ytting Bak TEAM CSC + 16'10
71 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC + 25'32
90 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC + 32'14
133 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC + 54'45
141 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC + 55'14
158 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 57'16
166 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC + 58'29Edited by niconico on 08-10-2007 22:02
May 27:Giro d’Italia - Stage 15 | Trento > Tre Cimo Di Lavaredo - 190 km
Stage Profile
If not for the Monte Zoncolan, which the riders will conquer on the 17th stage, this stage to Tre Cimo Di Lavaredo would no doubt be the Queen Stage of this Giro. But still this is arguably the hardest stage and we could maybe see Cunego settle things here today as he seems to be the stronger of him and Di Luca. Of course Andy and Simoni shouldn’t be counted out just yet.
Christian has been determined to go for stage wins and so he was today as he got away in a group with Kiryienka, Charteau, Hernández G., Labbe and Moletta.
Caisse D’Epargne apparently had some plans as they took the head of the race. Maybe Arroyo was in perfect shape today?
At the Passo San Pellegrino with about 100 km to go, the breakaway riders had 10 minutes on the pack. But Lampre upped the tempo here and they began cutting down this deficit. Ricardo Riccó attacked on this mountain and got away from the pack.
Christian Vandevelde went solo from the breakaway group as Riccó tried to catch up from the pack.
At the top Christian had 5 minutes on Riccó and about 7 on the pack, which had been cut to just 94 riders after Lampre had begun putting pressure on the other riders.
Riccó wasn’t going to catch Christian alone and he was also reeled back in on the Colle San Lucia, the small climb before Passo Giau. Near the top of this climb the favourites attacked with 50 km left to race of the stage. Di Luca started it and Cunego and Simoni were on his wheel right away. As this attack came to a surprise, Andy almost missed it, but he managed to catch them on the descent just before Passo Giau.
Christian had 2 minutes on the favourites, who were now his closest chasers, at the foot of the Passo Giau but he was quickly caught and he didn’t stay with them for long as he had to let them go. So yet again this was going be settled between Damiano Cunego, Danilo Di Luca, Gilberto Simoni and Andy Schleck. But the something very significant and crucial happened. Cunego, who seemed to be the strongest on the previous stages, cracked on Passo Giau. Not a good place to it considering they would still have to climb to Tre Cimo Di Lavaredo after the descent from this climb.
Cunego was losing la maglia rosa again, if he couldn’t redeem himself and catch up with the Di Luca Group again.
At the top, Cunego trailed the trio in front by 20 seconds. The descent was to be very eventful aswell as Simoni overestimated himself and crashed as he pushed a bit too hard while downhilling. He was on the ground for quite some time and Cunego also passed him. He got back up though and began pursuing them like a madman.
Cunego was behind at the top and so he tried to chase the leading trio down on the descent. Could he do it?
Disaster struck for Simoni as he crashed descending the Passo Giau ahead of the final difficulty of today.
This meant that Di Luca and Schleck were right now gunning for victory with Cunego trying to chase them down some 30 seconds behind them. The final climb to Tre Cime Di Lavaredo consists of two climbs of each about 10 km. The first is the Passo Tre Croci and the final is the Tre Cimo Di Lavaredo. Andy was looking pretty good and so far he had no problems following Danilo Di Luca. Of course Di Luca didn’t do all the work as Andy had a shot of moving to 2nd in the GC if these two stayed clear of Simoni and Cunego. But where was Simoni?
With 10 km to go and as the leaders hit Tre Cimo Di Lavaredo, we were informed by Radio Tour that Andy and Di Luca led Cunego by 30 seconds, and he led Simoni by just 10 seconds! What a return by him as he was catching his old team “buddy” Cunego, who he accused of “robbery” as he won the Giro in 2004 even though Simoni was his captain. Interesting whether they could work properly together.
Di Luca and Andy leading Simoni and Cunego by a margin that would regain Di Luca the leader’s jersey.
Apparently they couldn’t work together very well as they lost time to Di Luca and Andy. Di Luca tried to attack with about 3 km to go, but Andy closed the gap again and they found back into their rythm. With 2 km to go they led Simoni and Cunego by 56 seconds, meaning Andy was heading for 2nd place in the GC, could he stay on Di Luca’s wheel, who was tearing up this mountain road right now.
It was to be settled between Andy and Di Luca today. Andy tried his best to follow Di Luca’s acceleration on the final part of the climb and for a moment we thought he was actually the stronger, but Di Luca held him off and won the stage with 8 seconds to Andy. Simoni and Cunego lost a lot of time on the last part of the climb as they wouldn’t work together. This led to Simoni attacking and getting away from Cunego, meaning he finished in 3rd, 1’19” after Di Luca. Cunego really hit the wall as he lost 2’28” and dropped to 3rd in the GC. Number 5 on the stage was David Arroyo who came in 7 minutes later. Dave did very nice on the final climb as he finished as number 9 and climbed to 16th in the GC.
”The Killer” reclaimed the GC lead as took the win at Tre Cimo Di Lavaredo after an absolutely thrilling stage. Monte Zoncolan will have something to live up to.
So Andy continues his no less than amazing riding as he climbs to a fantastic 2nd in the GC, just 1’15” after Di Luca. Tomorrow we will have a well-earned rest day after 12 succesive days of racing. I know the riders are looking forward to it. Then on May 30, the riders hit Monte Zoncolan, where the GC riders will be looking to shut down any hopes of comeback from their opponents. It’s going to be a thrilling stage, you can bet your boot on that. Now it’s time to rest.
Giro d’Italia - Stage 15 | Result
1 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 5h55'17
2 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC + 8
3 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'19
4 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'28
5 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 7'00
6 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 9'37
7 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE + 10'11
8 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t. 9 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 10'32
10 Jose Rujano UNIBET.COM s.t.
11 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
12 Dario Cioni PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 10'47
13 Marzio Bruseghin LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
14 Cristian Moreni COFIDIS s.t.
15 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
16 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
17 Ruggero Marzoli TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
18 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
19 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK s.t.
20 José G. Marchante SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t. 27 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 13'10
31 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC + 14'06
58 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 23'58
79 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 27'50
105 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 52'30
126 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 1h03'58
Giro d’Italia - Stage 15 | GC
1 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 63h48'22
2 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC + 1'15
3 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'30
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'31
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE + 21'32
6 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 24'20
7 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 26'34
8 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 27'21
9 José G. Marchante SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 28'15
10 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 29'29
11 Jose Rujano UNIBET.COM + 29'55
12 Pietro Caucchioli CREDIT AGRICOLE + 30'36
13 Cristian Moreni COFIDIS + 30'53
14 Igor Anton H. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 31'09
15 Andrea Noe LIQUIGAS + 31'18 16 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 32'23
17 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 32'55
18 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 34'37
19 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 35'06
20 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 35'15 30 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC + 42'33
40 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 52'01
53 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 1h01'48
61 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 1h09'46
102 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 2h17'22
115 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 2h34'00
Giro d’Italia – Stage 15 | Points Competition
1 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL 206
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 190 3 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC 126
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 120
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE 100
6 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS 90
7 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM 85
8 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 75
9 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL 61
10 Francisco Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 57
La Maglia Rosa changed hands again as Di Luca reclaimed it after a superb win.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
The final stage ends in the capital of Catalunya, Barcelona. Today’s penultimate was quite hilly and it also had an uphill finish so Cobo had to stay sharp if he was to retain his lead. He was sharp however as he managed to get home with the first group to win the GC, as Samuel Sanchez won the stage outsprinting Garate, Pereiro and Cobo. Cuesta finished 16th in the GC, which is pretty good actually.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya – Stage 7 Result | Lloret de Mar > Barcelona – 119 km
1 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 2h59'44
2 Juan Manuel Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
3 Oscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
4 Juan José Cobo Acebo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
5 David López García CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 15
6 José Iván Gutierrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
7 Laurent Brochard BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
8 Jérôme Pineau BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
9 Andreas Klöden ASTANA s.t.
10 Gustavo César Veloso KARPIN - GALICIA s.t.
11 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA s.t.
12 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Santiago Pérez Fernández RELAX - GAM s.t.
14 Johan Van Summeren PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
15 Beat Zberg GEROLSTEINER + 37
16 Francisco Mancebo RELAX - GAM s.t.
17 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
18 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
19 Denis Menchov RABOBANK s.t.
20 Addy Engels QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t. 31 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC s.t.
77 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC + 1'23
80 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
123 Lars Ytting Bak TEAM CSC + 1'35
140 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC s.t.
161 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC + 1'53
169 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC + 2'07
172 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 2'16
87th Volta Ciclista a Catalunya – Stage 7 | Final GC
1 Juan José Cobo Acebo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 21h45'07
2 Oscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 21
3 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 1'05
4 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'24
5 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA + 1'32
6 Juan Manuel Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'49
7 Andreas Klöden ASTANA + 2'54
8 David López García CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'08
9 José Luis Rubiera DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'08
10 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 4'23 16 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 7'13
48 Lars Ytting Bak TEAM CSC + 17'45
71 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC + 26'55
89 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC + 33'37
133 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC + 56'20
143 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC + 57'07
160 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 59'32
169 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC + 1h00'36
Samuel Sánchez won the Points Competition and Julián Sánchez Pimienta won the King of the Mountains Competition.
May 28:Giro d’Italia – Rest Day | Andy Schleck Special
After 15 hard days of exhausting racing the Giro has stopped to take its final break before all hell breaks loose in the next stages. The 17th stage is going to be crucial as it features a mountain top finish. But not just any mountain top, no, we’re dealing with the arguably most nasty climb in Europe. The mythical Monte Zoncolan. Its monstrous slopes will no doubt exclude one or two of the riders in the top four in the GC fight. Who’s it going to be? It could be Andy Schleck? The absolute revelation, not only of this Giro, but of the entire season. TV2 Sport caught up with Andy Schleck on today’s rest day and had a chat with the 21-year-old podium contender from Luxembourg.
TV2 Interviewer: Andy, first of all thanks for your time and congratulations on your fantastic performance so far in this race. How are you feeling?
Andy Schleck: After 15 days of racing no one can feel fresh anymore and that sure includes me, but I’m feeling relaxed and the previous days have convinced me that I have the strenght still to come through here.
TV2 Interviewer: You’re second in one of the biggest races in the world and you’re just 21 years old, what are your thoughts on that?
Andy Schleck: It feels great no doubt, but I still have to remember that I don’t have the same experience as my opponents. For example a guy like Cunego, he’s just 25 years old but he’s already so experienced. As I said I feel like I can come through reasonably. I don’t know if I can stay in 2nd place, but if I don’t end up on the podium now, I’ll be very dissapointed as I’m very close right now.
TV2 Interviewer: You’ve came out of nowhere this season litteraly, how does your colleagues in the peloton look at this?
Andy Schleck: Well in the start of this race they were a bit like, “Who are you?”. But as I’ve established myself a bit later on, they’re showing me a great deal of respect, which is great. It was worse in Tour de Romandie, I remember me joking with Damiano Cunego after the race because he couldn’t understand he’d lost his podium spot to a ‘nobody’ like me, but it’s just fun.
TV2 Interviewer: Who’s at the top of the podium in Milano?
Andy Schleck: I’ll go with Pettachi because I’ve put some money on him winning there, so he’ll be on the podium, but I think you’re inquiring about the podium, right? Well it’s a very tough call. I wouldn’t be very self-assured if I said that Cunego and Simoni still has a shot and I don’t, so yeah, I won’t exclude myself just yet from that party, but right now I think Di Luca has the edge obviously.
TV2 Interviewer: Okay Andy, at last I want to ask you as you’re a new kid on the block and because we don’t know much about you. What are your big goals for your career?
Andy Schleck: I would like to beat Fränk to the line in Liegè-Bastogne-Liegè, nah, but I would like to win some of the big classics like Amstel Gold Race, Giro di Lombardia and Liegè-Bastogne-Liegè, as those are races I really like. But as I’ve proved to myself that I have some ability in the mountains, my ultimate dream is of course to win the Tour de France at some point, but that’s a few years away right now, but I expect to race it next season.
TV2 Interviewer: Thank you very much for your time Andy and the very best of luck in the last part of the Giro d’Italia.
Andy Schleck: Well thank you.
Can Andy Schleck go the distance? The nearest future will provide the answer.
May 29:Giro d’Italia - Stage 16 | Agordo > Lienz - 196 km
Stage Profile
159 riders are left in the Giro. 198 took of one the TTT at Sardinia 17 days ago. After yesterday’s rest day our guys looked a bit less fatigue, but as Andy stated in yesterday’s interview, no one is feeling fresh after two weeks of racing. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of riders, who wants to get something out of their struggles in the mountains and grab themselves a stage win. And today’s stage looked perfect to do so. A quite hilly terrain and a climb about 30 km from the finish should prevent the sprinters to make it to the finish and it should also prevent the GC riders from going at it today.
Nicki got away today as he attacked on the first climb of the day, the Passo Di Campalonco. A lot of riders countered, but only 3 made it to Nicki. These three riders were Fédrigo (BTL), Niermann (RAB) and Celestino (MRM), who already have one stage win so far.
Nicki got away in a pretty strong group, with several riders trailing. Were they going to catch up?
Trailing Nicki’s group was a trio with Arrieta (A2R) and Aerts (PRL) and even further back there was a 7-man-group with Fertonani (GCE), Galparsoro (EUS), Piil (TMO), Strauss (GST), Mindlin (TCS), Fofonov (C.A) and Rubiano Chavez (PAN).
On the descent from the Passi Di Campalonco, Fédrigo crashed and his participation in the front group was wasted as he ended in no-mans land between The Arrieta-Aerts Group and the 7-man group almost all day.
With a 100 km to go it was beginnig to look as though the pack would let the breakaway go as Nicki’s group now had almost 11 minutes on the pack, where Saunier Duval and Liquigas took charge. At this point they had one minute on the duo behind, so it looked as though Nicki, Niermann and Celestino could hold off the other breakaway riders behind them.
Was the breakaway going to stay clear today? It was up to Liquigas and Saunier Duval.
And they were let go by the pack as their advantage kept increasing and with 50 km to go of the stage, Nicki’s Group had 18 minutes on the pack. Young Grischa Niermann couldn’t keep up from this point as he had to let go, meaning Nicki and Celestino was going to fight it out on the Brannberg climb as they had crossed the border into Austria a few kilometres ago.
The pack wasn’t interested and the other breakaway riders behind Nicki and Celestino couldn’t catch up, so it was to be settled between these two.
Nicki and Celestino stayed together for a long time on the climb as Nicki wanted to see how strong the Italian was. He had no problems sitting in his wheel so with 1 km to the top he attacked and he immediately got a gap and pulled away. Celestino was blown up, he couldn’t turn his wheels. Arrieta and Aerts were caught by the 7-man group on the climb and here Jakob Piil attacked and also got away, meaning the virtual standings on the stage now featured two danes in the top 3.
Nicki was much stronger than Celestino and no other rider was anyway near him, the only thing that could stop him now was himself. Is he low on energy maybe?
While the breakaway riders descended the Brannberg, the peloton had begun climbing and actually Di Luca and Simoni wanted to make a race out of it. But us and Lampre kept a cold head and reeled them back in on the flat part towards Lienz.
The only thing that stood between Nicki and victory now was his legs and ability to go on, because he was getting very tired. If he could keep just a decent pace no one would be able to catch him as Celestino was already 2 minutes behind as they entered the last 10 km. The last part of the stage was completely flat.
But Nicki had dosed his energy to perfection and it wasn’t until he crossed the flame rouge that he told to our amusement in the support car, that he was “completely wasted” now. He just cruised down the home stretch as no one was even close to him. Celestino was now 3 minutes behind, so Nicki would claim a superior victory today and what a brilliant win. Here he comes, Nicki Sørensen takes the 16th stage of the Giro d’Italia!
Dejavu from Tour of California as Nicki strolled to victory after a brilliant effort that saw him wipe out Mirko Celestino on his way.
Nicki is a very sympathic guy and he’s the kind of rider you always love to see win, even though he doesn’t do that a whole lot and of course it’s always nice to see a dane winning in a Grand Tour, well it is period also. The other riders were also thrilled as they came to congratulate him and morale in the team is sky-high as we are set to help Andy on tomorrow’s fatal stage to Monte Zoncolan. This is going to be something.
Giro d’Italia - Stage 16 | Result
1 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC 5h08'14
2 Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM + 3'07
3 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'17
4 Dimitri Fofonov CREDIT AGRICOLE + 7'24
5 Dionisio Galparsoro EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
6 Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 8'11
7 Pierrick Fédrigo BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
8 Marco Fertonani CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
9 Marcel Strauss GEROLSTEINER s.t.
10 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 9'50
11 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
12 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
13 Grischa Niermann RABOBANK s.t. 14 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
15 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
16 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
17 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
18 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
19 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
20 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t. 29 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
31 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
38 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC s.t.
46 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC s.t.
47 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC s.t.
103 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 13'22
Giro d’Italia - Stage 16 | GC
1 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 63h48'22
2 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC + 1'15
3 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'30
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'31
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE + 21'32
6 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 24'20
7 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 26'34
8 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 27'21
9 José G. Marchante SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 28'15
10 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 29'29
11 Jose Rujano UNIBET.COM + 29'55
12 Pietro Caucchioli CREDIT AGRICOLE + 30'36
13 Cristian Moreni COFIDIS + 30'53
14 Igor Anton H. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 31'09
15 Andrea Noe LIQUIGAS + 31'18 16 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 32'23
17 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 32'55
18 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 34'37
19 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 35'06
20 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 35'15 27 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 41'45
30 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC + 42'33
53 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 1h01'48
61 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 1h09'46
102 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 2h20'54
115 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 2h34'00
Giro d’Italia – Stage 16 | Points Competition
1 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL 207
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 196 3 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC 126
4 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 125
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE 100
6 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS 90
7 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM 85
8 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 79
9 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL 61 10 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC 57
